Australia Seeded To Gain Triple Gold In Chennai World Doubles

Australia have been seeded to win the gold medals in all three categories of the 2004 World Doubles Squash Championships which will take place in Chennai, India, from 13-17 December.

David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts, both from NSW and ranked 4 and 14, respectively in the world, are favourites for the Men's title - while Queensland sisters Rachael Grinham and Natalie Grinham, the world numbers one and five, are seeded to secure the Women's crown. Palmer and Rachael Grinham are also expected to pick up their second gold medals in the Mixed event.

Nine countries - Australia, India, New Zealand, Malaysia, Pakistan, USA, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong - will be represented in the second World Doubles Championships. The figure would have been 10, had Scotland not withdrawn its men's pairing of John White and Martin Heath following the knee injury sustained by White in last week's World Open in Qatar.

The Men's Doubles entries (with seedings) include: [1] David Palmer/Anthony Ricketts (AUS); [2] Ong Beng Hee/Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS); [3/4] Mansoor Zaman/Shahid Zaman (PAK); [3/4] Dan Jenson/Cameron Pilley (AUS); [5/8] Cameron White/Byron Davis (AUS); [5/8] Safeerullah Khan/Farrukh Zaman (PAK); [5/8] Preston Quick/Jamie Crombie (USA); [5/8] Ritwik Bhattacharya/Saurav Ghosal (IND); [9/16] Michael Tootill/Paul Atkinson (RSA); [9/16] Wong Wai Hang/Roger Ngan (HKG); [9/16] Vikas Jangra/Harinder Pal Singh (IND); [9/16] Bala Murgan/A Parthiban (IND); [9/16] Gaurav Nandrajog/Niraj Shirgaokar (IND); [9/16] Vivian Rhamanan/Mohamed Rizal Aboul Kadir (SIN); [9/16] Naishadh Lalwani/Rushabh Vora (IND); [9/16] Raymond Arnold/S Maniam (MAS)

The Women's Doubles seeds are: [1] Rachael Grinham/Natalie Grinham (AUS); [2] Nicol David/Tricia Chuah (MAS); [3/4] Shelley Kitchen/Tamsyn Leevey (NZL); [3/4] Heidi Mather/Amelia Pittock (AUS); [5/8] Angelique Clifton-Parks/Diana Argyll (RSA); [5/8] Kasey Brown/Melissa Martin (AUS); [5/8] Lara Petera/Louise Crome (NZL); [5/8] Latasha Khan/Louisa Hall (USA).

Seeds for the Mixed event are: [1] Rachael Grinham/David Palmer (AUS); [2] Shelley Kitchen/Glen Wilson (NZL); [3/4] Ong Beng Hee/Nicol David (MAS); [3/4] Natalie Grinham/Dan Jenson (AUS); [5/8] Mohd Azlan Iskandar/Tricia Chuah (MAS); [5/8] Michael Tootill/Angelique Clifton-Parks (RSA); [5/8] Dianne Desira/Cameron White (AUS); [5/8] Latasha Khan/Jamie Crombie (USA); [9/16] Saurav Ghosal/Joshna Chinappa (IND); [9/16] Lara Petera/Callum O'Brien (NZL); [9/16] Paul Atkinson/Diana Argyll (RSA); [9/16] Louisa Hall/Preston Quick (USA); [9/16] Faheem Khan/Rebecca Chiu (HKG).

The Chennai Championships present elite squash doubles for the first time since the 2002 Commonwealth Games in England, where the hosts' pairing of Lee Beachill/Peter Nicol beat Australia's Stewart Boswell/Anthony Ricketts 15-11 15-12 in the Men's final, and New Zealand's Carol Owens/Leilani Rorani clinched gold after beating England's Cassie Jackman/Tania Bailey 15-11 5-15 15-13 in the Women's final. New Zealand also secured gold in the Mixed event when Glen Wilson/Leilani Rorani defeated Malaysian silver medallists Ong Beng Hee/Nicol David 15-11 15-9.